1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to lubricant droplets, a process for the production of such droplets, to aqueous dispersions of water insoluble lubricant oils having uniform size distributions, and to photographic elements having enhanced lubricity, reduced friction, improved scratch resistance, and improved optical characteristics of the element.
2. Description of Related Art
Various lubricants have been employed in photographic film and papers products, especially in the outermost layer or layers of the element.
In copending U.S. application Ser. No., Docket No. 70170RAG, filed by Y. Wang, A. B. Fant, K. M. Schroeder, and G. W. Visconte, entitled "Photographic Element Having Improved Scratch Resistance" filed on even date herewith and assigned to the same assignee as this application, droplets of lubricant having a size relationship with respect to the thickness of the layer of a photographic element in which the droplets reside are disclosed. It is desired that the lubricating droplets have a narrow particle size distribution.
Because of the nature of liquid lubricant droplets, it is extremely difficult to obtain droplets that are stable over any length of time. Thus, it is readily apparent that it is even a more difficult problem to provide uniformly sized, stable lubricant droplets. It would be desirable to have a process for making stable lubricant droplets capable of being applied from a coating composition to form layers of uniformly sized lubricant droplets in a binder. Finally, it would be desirable to provide photographic elements having at least one layer containing uniformly sized and dispersed lubricant droplets.